GREEN — Since the 2008-09 school year, Green Primary School students and staff have collected money for The House of Hope, a global charity and orphanage in Ghana, Africa, that was started by the grandmother of two of the school’s students. The father of those students helps to run operations in the U.S. and travels there several times a year.

The school sponsors a new project each year, with 100 percent of the proceeds raised going to The House of Hope, according to school guidance counselor Coryne Carlton. She said students raised about $3,120 for a generator this year. The generator is needed to allow children to continue to do homework, read and run their fans during the very frequent rolling power outages there. In the past six years, the students have collected over $13,000 for The House of Hope. Carlton said students donated money from their piggy banks, did chores at home to earn money to donate or made things to sell to friends. Some even donated tooth fairy money and money earned from a good report card, she said.

“The generosity of our students is so heartwarming,” said Carlton. “They are able to empathize with other students who seem so far away but are not really that different from them.”

She said funds for the generator were collected for two weeks, and there were prizes for the first-, second- and third-grade classes that contributed the most, as well as an overall winner. The rewards were gifts from Ghana.

Students in the winning grade level classes of Christine Bonk, April Vogley/Katherine Schumaker and Sheila Saegar received handmade keychains from Ghana. First-grade students in Irish Kuwatch’s class, shown above, were the overall winners and received a flag from Ghana to display in their room until a new winner is crowned next year.

Also, each student was given a pencil decorated like the Ghana flag and a choice of pouches/money holders.